Teenagers in a Lancashire school are to be given lessons in hardcore pornography and oral sex, as part of a Channel 4 program promoting a roll out of GSCEs in sex education. The program, to be aired next Thursday, features former Miss Belgium and current UN goodwill ambassador for sexual health Goedelle Liekens as she introduces teenagers to their intimate areas in graphic detail.
A group of thirteen boys and girls, aged 15 and 16 volunteered to take part in the hour long feature, all taking part in two weeks’ worth of lessons with Ms Liekens. Within the first few minutes of the show the boys are shown pictures of female genitalia and asked which they prefer, the Express has reported.
According to publicity released by Channel 4, the pupils are also set homework: the girls are tasked with examining themselves “with a handheld mirror”, while the boys with shaving off their pubic hair.
The shocking lessons have been justified on the grounds that pornography is easily accessible, and that pupils need guidance on what they are seeing.
Steve Campbell, the head teacher of Hollins Technology College in Accrington, which the pupils all attend, said that he didn’t regret his decision to invite Ms Liekens to give the classes. “I suppose it was quite a big step to invite her but in the last year we have dealt with teen pregnancies and inappropriate texts, and without the shadow of a doubt, the biggest single influence on children is pornography,” he said.
Campbell is filmed agreeing to include some of the lesson content in the school’s wider sexual education curriculum, saying: “Re: the content, we’re [the teachers] now talking about aspects surrounding pornography, masturbation and sexual pleasure. I believe that the route we are going down is appropriate and is what is needed in the school.”
However, Breitbart London last year reported on the case of a 13 year old boy who raped a girl in his class following a sex education class. The boy, from north Wales, asked the girl whether she wanted to “try sex”, but when she refused he raped her, telling her afterwards “you can go now”.
Anecdotal evidence from the charity Rape Crisis suggested that instances of young teenagers raping their friends is not uncommon, but a spokesperson for the charity argued that this bolstered, rather than diminished, the case for more sex education at a younger age.
Tory MP Philip Davis disagreed, telling the House of Commons: “We have been having sex education in our schools for more than 40 years, and it was supposedly going to solve things such as teenage pregnancies and unwanted pregnancies.
“Most of my constituents would probably conclude that the more sex education we have had since the early 1970s, the more teenage pregnancies and unwanted pregnancies we have had.”
Meanwhile the call for sex education at an increasingly young age continues. Last week Ms Liekens raised eyebrows when she suggested that parents should discuss Bob the Builder’s sex life with their toddlers. “Parents should broach the subject of sex as soon as their children can talk,” she said, adding:
“I have two teenage daughters and when they were younger we’d watch Bob the Builder and I’d say: ‘How do you think Bob feels about Wendy? ‘What would they do if they were in love?’ You don’t have to comb over the details, just demonstrate that you’re happy to be open.”